Well, I seem to have seriously neglected posting on my blog . . . I will now make an effort to make regular posts. I am not sure if this is an off-shoot of Alzheimer’s, but I do seem to be somewhat detached from things around me, so I am not motivated to do things, even those that I have always enjoyed in the past. Actually, there are some things that I do keep up with on a regular basis – number one is doing rosaries and I do from 3 to 7 a day (the Rosary always calms me down and helps focus my mind) in addition I have no problem doing them by memory, and a rosary does have a somewhat lengthy amount of things to recite – God has, indeed, given me a therapeutic activity. I can also play computer games which require remembering things – examples are Bookworm, (finding words in a grid), and Civilization (Sid Meier’s game) I have played since 1992 (now on the 4th edition and with all current service packs added), so, as complex as the game can be, it is , at least now, still hard wired in my brain and I can still play it well and enjoy it. Anyway, the point I am addressing in this is that mental activity does retard the progress of Alzheimer’s, but. at this time, the progression does go on (but slower with mental stimulation). As a result, I can do things I have done in the past, but I do see a deterioration of my ability to do them as well as in the past – on one hand this frustrates me, and on the other, I am grateful that I can still do it.
My wife is a great asset to me – without her, I am sure I would not be able to function as well as I am at this point. I know I am getting more reactive to frustration, and she has to deal with that some, but she does it discretely. Our family (kids, grand, kids, great grand-kids) are all supportive – I am blessed, even though I can get frustrated when my memory craps out (kind of like walking on Swiss cheese where I can be just fine and then suddenly fall into a black hole without warning where my memory is a blank). These episodes do not last too long, and my memory does re-assert itself but it will happen again, and more often with the “black hole” time getting subtly longer.
I will now sign off, and I will try to make more entries more often . . .
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